South Korea's healthcare system is undergoing a massive transformation, and it's all stemming from the mass exodus of doctors.
For a while, news of the resignation of doctors was reported in hospitals in South Korea. They left a letter of resignation and left, no longer working as doctors.
Why is that?
It turns out that some research institutions in South Korea, such as the Korea Development Institute (KDI), the Institute of Health and Social Affairs, and Seoul National University, have published a series of research reports. They point out that due to the low fertility rate of the Korean population and the rapid aging of the population, a shortage of doctors is expected to exceed 10,000 by 2035.
Faced with this situation, the only way is to start training more doctors as soon as possible.
More than 40 medical schools across the country have applied to the Ministry of Education to expand their enrollment, with a total enrollment of about 2,000 students. It is planned that from 2025, the enrollment of Korean medical schools will expand to 5,058 students.
The news sent South Korea's medical community into turmoil.
Interns and residents are leaving, and even doctors at Seoul National University Hospital are quitting. The situation spread rapidly from Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province in the metropolitan area to the whole of Korea.
According to a survey of 100 major teaching hospitals, 6,415 residents submitted letters of resignation, or 55% of the total. While these resignations have not yet been approved, 1,630 people have already left the hospital directly. The remaining doctors are no longer actively working.
Beginning on February 20, the residents went on strike. There are 13,000 resident doctors in South Korea, and a previous survey showed that more than 88% of resident doctors said they would participate in collective resignation.
In other words, the number of people who may eventually participate in the resignation will exceed 11,000.
Even some medical students could not sit idly by and announced that they would take a leave of absence from February 20.
Thus, the confrontation between the medical community and South Korea** began.
The most affected are, of course, the patients.
With the departure of the resident doctors, a series of cancer surgeries, births, intervertebral discs and other surgical procedures had to be postponed or canceled. Not only is there a shortage of surgeons, but there is also a shortage of manpower in the anesthesiology department.
Some hospitals are even understaffed in emergency departments and simply can't keep busy.
* Injunctions have been issued against residents in some hospitals to return to work. Two leaders of the Medical Association had their licenses revoked. **12 military hospitals have also been opened to meet daily medical needs. Some patients with a tough attitude are ready to sue the hospitals and doctors involved. There was even a cancer patient, who is also the president of the Korean Lung Cancer Association, appealed on ***, "Please show tolerance to the poor society, the patient is desperately waiting in the last moments of his life**".
Actually, this problem is not new.
Since 2006, the number of medical students enrolled in South Korea has been 3,058 per year. By 2020, Moon Jae-in** proposed an expansion plan to increase the number of recruits by 400 per year for 10 years. But at the time, the proposal was opposed by the medical community, which was considered a "hasty and unilateral decision". Later, during the pandemic, doctors went on strike.
Yoon Suk-yeol** plans to increase the number of recruits by 512 per year starting in June 2023. But the medical associations, which advocated not expanding the enrollment, refused to negotiate. Until the beginning of February this year, South Korea forcibly launched a plan to expand the enrollment of 2,000 people. The medical associations then announced that they would go on strike after the Chinese New Year.
They really did what they said, and after the Spring Festival ended, the strike really began.
Things have developed to this point, and it can be said that the resident doctors in South Korea are fighting against the whole society.
The shortage of doctors in South Korea is real.
Data shows that only 2. per 1,000 South Koreans6 doctors. Among OECD countries, this proportion is only higher than that of Mexico. If you don't count the doctors who specialize in "Oriental Medicine", then the ratio is only 21 doctor, the lowest ranked doctor in the OECD countries.
The medical school's expansion plan has received support from South Korea** and the general public, with an approval rating of more than 80%.
But moving forward with this plan is understandably concerned about South Korea's healthcare system and the departure of doctors, especially given the aging population and the shortage of doctors. ** and the medical community need to work together to address this urgent challenge to ensure that patients have access to the necessary medical care. Increasing the enrollment of medical students is an important initiative, but it is also necessary to take into account the quality of physician training and the allocation of medical resources.